1652. August 24.]
the education of youth; to impose monthly assessments not exceeding forty
thousand pounds in amount for the payment of the forces, and to imprison or
discharge any person, or remove him from his dwelling into any other place
or country, or permit him to return to his dwelling, as they should see
cause for the advantage of the commonwealth.[1]
I. One of the first cares of the commissioners was to satisfy the claims of
vengeance. In the year 1644 the Catholic nobility had petitioned the
king that an inquiry might be made into the murders alleged to have been
perpetrated on each side in Ireland, and that justice might be executed on
the offenders without distinction of country or religion. To the conquerors
it appeared more expedient to confine the inquiry to one party; and a high
court of justice was established to try Catholics charged with having shed
the blood of any Protestant out of battle since the commencement of the
rebellion in 1641. Donnelan, a native, was appointed president, with
commissary-general Reynolds, and Cook, who had acted as solicitor at the
trial of Charles I., for his assessors. The court sat in great state at
Kilkenny, and thence made its circuit through the island by Waterford,
Cork, Dublin, and other places.
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